Mental Health Funding

For the Government to ring-fence funding of €37.5m annually and to put emphasis on local 24/7 crisis intervention services.

USI calls on the Government to produce a detailed, time-lined action plan to continue the reform of mental health supports improving the mental health of the whole population in line with A Vision for Change (2006), Healthy Ireland Framework (2013) and Connecting for Life (2015). This will require adequate funding, structures for good governance and oversight in place. The implementation of a 24/7-intervention service within our health service and local communities is important, and should be a priority alongside annual ring fenced funding from Budget 2018.

The suicide prevention framework Connecting for Life (2013) has made a commitment to running out a national quality assured and co-ordinated 24/7 service for individuals in need of mental health care. Currently individuals are forced to use Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments in hospitals as an intervention service with staff and professionals not being adequately trained to respond and support someone in mental or emotional distress. A decade after A Vision for Change (2006), the recommendations to provide community based services, crisis homes and intervention support services are not available. Supports should be available on a 24/7 basis and should include the capacity to respond in a multidisciplinary way. It is proposed that there should be a ‘crisis house’ within each catchment area, offering brief accommodation to service users who need a safe place to recover their bearings and work with the Community Mental Health Teams (CMHT) (multi-agency teams consisting of different mental health professionals such as community mental health nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, support time recovery workers, administration workers, psychiatrists and psychologists) to evolve a care plan that will address the key factors that have precipitated a crisis ultimately forcing individuals and students to an A&E.